So, Guy Walks Up to the Bar, and Scalia Says...

[Conkle, Daniel O.]

>From today's NY Times:  

 

So, Guy Walks Up to the Bar, and Scalia Says... 

 

By ADAM LIPTAK

Justice Antonin Scalia's wit is widely admired, and now it has been
quantified. He is, a new study concludes, 19 times as funny as Justice
Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Transcripts of oral arguments at the United States Supreme Court have
long featured the notation "[laughter]" after a successful quip from a
justice or lawyer. But until October 2004, justices were not identified
by name, making it impossible to construct a reliable index of judicial
wit. 

That has now changed, and Jay D. Wexler, a law professor at Boston
University, was quick to exploit the new data to analyze the relative
funniness of the justices. His study, which covers the nine-month term
that began that October, has just been published in a law journal called
The Green Bag. 

Justice Scalia was the funniest justice, at 77 "laughing episodes." On
average, he was good for slightly more than one laugh - 1.027, to be
precise - per argument. 

Justice Stephen G. Breyer was next, at 45 laughs. Justice Ginsburg
produced but four laughs. Justice Clarence Thomas, who rarely speaks
during arguments, gave rise to no laughter at all.

. . . . 

http://nytimes.com/2005/12/31/politics/31mirth.html?hp&ex=1136091600&en=
b2a0536a19e4bf28&ei=5094&partner=homepage

 

 

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